IN HOUSTON: Peace or War with Out End? An all day conference

A left-right convergence of progressive Democrats, Greens, Libertarians, and Republicans are issuing a call to participate in a foreign policy conference, to be held at TSU in the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs Building, in conjunction with TSU’s Thurgood Marshall School of Law.  The conference theme is “Peace, or Wars without End – a Conference to Explore Our Choices”.  Experts from the left and right will be coming together to question the overuse of US military forces to solve conflicts.

Speakers and workshop leaders

We’ve already confirmed these speakers:

• David Swanson – an activist, blogger and author, labor activist, former press secretary for Dennis Kucinich’s 2003-2004 Presidential campaign, active in the movement to indict George W. Bush and Dick Cheney for war crimes – see WarIsACrime.org.  He now also hosts Talk Nation Radio, which airs on several Pacifica radio stations and their affiliates.

• Col. Lawrence Wilkerson -a retired United States Army Colonel and former chief of staff to United States Secretary of State Colin Powell. Wilkerson has criticized many aspects of the Iraq War, including his own preparation of Powell’s presentation to the UN. He appears as a frequent Republican commentator on The Ed Show with Ed Schultz on MSNBC commenting about the problems with Republican Party. Also see his interview “Who Makes US Foreign Policy?“
• Dr. Robert Jensen, professor of journalism at UT Austin, activist, and speaker. Jensen writes for popular media, both alternative and mainstream. His opinion and analytic pieces on such subjects as foreign policy, politics, economics, and ecology have appeared in newspapers, magazines, and web sites all over the world. He contributes to local organizing in Austin, TX, through his work with the Third Coast Activist Resource Center, which offers educational resources and organizes community events about U.S. policy around the world; and 5604 Manor, a progressive community center that brings people together to make positive social change.
• Ann Wright is a former United States Army colonel and retired U.S. State Department official, who was one of three State Department officials to publicly resign in direct protest of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. She has written many articles in the Huffington Post and elsewhere about US misuse of our military as well as of domestic issues.  She will be joining us by teleconference.
• Marilyn White – Human rights activist who has worked for peace and justice in Latin America with School of the Americas Watch, Witness for Peace, CodePink and the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship
• Daniel McAdams of the Ron Paul Institute

Register now for the conference

Discount pre-registration is $30, by April 20 (deadline subject to change, depending on requirements of the caterer).  Late registration (after that date) is $40.  Students may register for free.  Others of limited income may pay what they wish, but everyone should pre-register so we can order enough food for everyone for lunch.   Please register at this conference registration link

Program Booklet Ads

Ads in the program booklet for the conference will allow you, your organization, or business to get some recognition, while helping to make the conference affordable to everyone.  You can choose from full page to classified-size ads.  To buy an ad, go to this form: https://secure.jotformpro.com/hpjc/program_ad

Location, Getting There, Parking:

The Conference will be at Texas Southern University, building 151, McCoy Auditorium room 114, on this TSU campus map.  This is the Barbara Jordan-Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs Building, just south of the corner of Tierwester and Cleburne St.  See Google map below.

You can get there via Metro bus routes 29, 30, 52, 68, and 80.  If you drive, paid visitor parking is available in the East Side Parking Garage for $3 for all day.  This garage is across Cleburne St. from the School of Public Affairs Bldg, on the north side of Cleburne St.  The visitor parking entrance is via Tierwester St.  You might be able to park for free on the street, but watch for no parking zones.

Conference Information Summary

THE PROBLEM: The United States has been at war for the past 13 years–in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and now Syria, and potentially in Iran—although no war has been declared by Congress. Many of our young people have never known peacetime in their lives. With the launch of a new US-led war in Iraq and Syria against the Islamic State (IS), there is no end in sight. Indeed, the stated strategy of today’s US foreign policy is to conduct a war without end or “generational” war, a strategy that has already imposed tremendous suffering on innocent people in many countries, wasted much needed revenue and resources, and actually made the United States less safe. We need to understand why these disastrous policies are being followed, explore alternative foreign policy approaches that would increase our real security, and organize action to implement them.

CAUSES: In a globalized economy, the driving force behind the US appetite for permanent war lies in the desire to maintain the US role as the leading super power. For influential corporate interests, access to markets, raw materials and cheap labor in the Middle East, Africa and countries under the influence of Russia and China have been underlying goals for US military operations. As General Dwight Eisenhower warned in his last speech before leaving office as President, the “military-industrial complex” has continued to grow due to huge but invisible influences that lobbyists and campaign donations from military contractors have on Congress and the President in foreign policy.

CONSEQUENCES: In the 21st century, war as a permanent feature of American policy is conducted more openly and savagely through heavy bombardments or daily drone attacks against innocent civilians, without prior approval of the American people or Congress. Today, the U.S. military, CIA operatives and other governmental agencies maintain bases and are conducting overt and covert military operations in 143 different countries around the world. By reviving and expanding NATO forces, the US has made the United Nations – as an international organization for peace and security – almost obsolete and irrelevant. Continued conflicts in areas like the Middle East or Ukraine or Pakistan, often encouraged by belligerent stances of the US, could ignite at any time into a huge war, in which nuclear weapons, possessed by a growing number of countries, would likely be used, engulfing us all.

PUBLIC RATIONALE: The debates and arguments between the White House, the US Congress and the military leaders – through corporate media – are mostly about how and where to escalate and expand war operations. Both Democrats and Republicans are afraid to look weak and be attacked by other politicians. They argue for the “safety” of the American people and say they must conduct a “humanitarian war” in Iraq and Syria against extremist groups like IS or Al Qaeda, although many observers see these extremist groups as “blowback”, a direct result of previous US wars in the Middle East. The relatively small threat from terrorists is conveniently used as an excuse to put American boots on the ground – a reminder of the Weapons of Mass Destruction claim that was made to justify invading and occupying Iraq.

COSTS: The U.S. Department of Defense requested $495.6 billion for the base budget in Fiscal Year 2015, which does not include the cost of current conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan for which we’ll be paying the debt and caring for disabled veterans for many years to come. US military spending is far more than any other country, yet we provide relatively little non-military foreign aid that could both improve conditions and help us gain allies in troubled areas of the world. And US citizens are asking why military spending makes taxes so high, why we can’t afford adequate police protection or proper care for our veterans, why we don’t have enough funds to maintain our roads, bridges, and other infrastructure, and why we cannot have affordable health care and decent jobs for all, and quality educational opportunities for our children. Our military is also the largest user of fossil fuels, creating huge environmental problems both here and abroad even when no war is going on, and increasing the very likelihood of war to maintain access to those resources. In short, military-centered US policies continue to harm the lives of ordinary hard working people in the U.S. and bring misery and death to defenseless people abroad.

THE CONFERENCE: In response to this dire situation, the Houston Peace and Justice Center is seeking all individuals and organizations who share these vital concerns, to come together and organize a peace conference. The aim of this conference is to unite supporters of democracy to explore peaceful solutions and organize actions in support of a saner and more constructive US foreign policy.